All photos courtesy of Suerte

Resy QuestionnaireAustin

20 Questions with Suerte’s Fermín Nuñez

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In the Resy Questionnaire, we play a game of 20 questions with the industry folks behind some of our favorite restaurants. What’s your most memorable restaurant experience? Your favorite food movie? What restaurant would you want to time-travel for?

Up in this very first edition is Fermín Nuñez, the executive chef at Austin’s acclaimed Mexican restaurant Suerte, where the homemade masa is at the heart and soul of the menu.

The Resy Questionnaire

1. Favorite thing you’ve ever cooked?

The first time we cooked nixtamal in the Suerte kitchen for the first time ever. 

2. Kitchen tool you couldn’t live without?

A highquality cutting board. 

3. What pantry items would you bring on a desert island?

Butter, lemon, white soy, dried cascabel peppers, white pepper. 

4. Favorite place to get tacos and barbecue in Austin?

Cuantos Tacos and la Barbecue. 

5. Favorite cookbook?

Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden.

6. Your drink of choice?

A Vieux Carré. 

4. Favorite place to get tacos and barbecue in Austin?

Cuantos Tacos and la Barbecue. 

7. Favorite food movie?

Funke. 

 

8. Your ideal dinner party guest, dead or alive?  

Prince.

9. What restaurant industry person do you admire the most?

Aaron Franklin. He carries himself like a true professional and is dedicated to his craft. 

10. The greatest restaurant experience of your life so far?

Not  fair — too many to choose one.  

11. Your greatest professional achievement?

Opening a restaurant dedicated to making the best quality tortillas we can every day.  

12. What single dish best describes your personality?  

Tortillas.

13. If you could go back in time, which restaurant would you dine at?

Tabla, during its first years. 

14. Your favorite meal from childhood?

Chicken and rice soup.

15. Your wish for the restaurant industry?

That we learn from everything that happened to us last year, and we don’t forget to take care of ourselves and listen to our bodies more. 

16. What do you wish you did better?

Cooked rice — I’m not  the best at cooking large quantities of rice. 

17. If you could eat through a city for a day, where would you go?  

San Sebastián.

18. The one thing you can’t resist splurging on when you go out?  

Food.

19. What do you value most in restaurants?  

Service.

20. It’s your last meal on earth, what are you eating?  

It would be Lucali in New York, a big feast in the mercado 20 de Noviembre in Oaxaca, and el Pasillo de Humo  in Mexico City.